Earth slammed by ultra-powerful ‘goddess particle’ cosmic ray, and we do not know the place it got here from
Researchers have detected one of the crucial {powerful} cosmic rays ever seen slamming into Earth — however they do not know what induced it or the place it got here from. The extraordinarily energetic particle, which has been named after a Japanese goddess, arrived from the route of a void within the universe the place virtually nothing is understood to exist, in keeping with new analysis.
Cosmic rays are extremely energetic particles, primarily consisting of protons or helium nuclei, which can be continually raining by each sq. inch of the universe (together with our our bodies). However a small subsection of cosmic rays, which hit Earth roughly as soon as per sq. mile yearly, are accelerated to even better vitality ranges by a number of the universe’s most intense phenomena.
These extra-energetic particles, often known as “ultra-high-energy cosmic rays,” have not less than one exa-electron volt (EeV), or 1 quintillion (1 adopted by 18 zeros) electron volts, of vitality, which is round one million instances extra energetic than the quickest particles from human-made particle accelerators.
On Could 21, 2021, researchers detected one in all these supercharged cosmic rays with the Telescope Array project — a detector made from particular person substations overlaying greater than 270 sq. miles (700 sq. kilometers) in Utah. This specific particle had a whopping 244 EeV of vitality, which makes it probably the most energetic cosmic ray because the “Oh My God” (OMG) particle in 1991 — probably the most {powerful} cosmic ray ever detected, which had an vitality of 320 EeV and traveled at greater than 99.9% the speed of light.
Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan College (OMU) described the current cosmic ray in a new examine that will likely be printed within the journal Science on Nov. 24. They named the mysterious particle “Amaterasu” after the solar goddess from the Shinto faith who’s believed to have helped create Japan.
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“After I first found this ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic ray, I believed there should have been a mistake, because it confirmed an vitality stage unprecedented within the final 3 a long time,” examine lead creator Toshihiro Fujii, an astrophysicist at OMU, mentioned in a statement.
The scientists are uncertain precisely the place the UHE ray got here from. “Its arrival route factors again to a void within the large-scale structure of the Universe,” the researchers wrote in Science. This area has no recognized galaxies, nebulas or different cosmic buildings.
It’s doable that the cosmic ray originated elsewhere and was deflected towards us by magnetic fields surrounding a star or different large object. Nevertheless, UHE cosmic rays are much less prone to be deflected than less-energetic counterparts, the researchers wrote.
Additionally it is unclear what may have produced such a strong cosmic ray. The researchers have urged a number of doable sources, together with supernova explosions, black hole mergers and pulsars.
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However the particle may additionally come from an “unknown astronomical phenomena and novel bodily origins past the Normal Mannequin [of physics],” Fujii mentioned.
Researchers are additionally nonetheless uncertain what induced the OMG particle in 1991.
The workforce hopes that next-generation observatories will have the ability to hint the origins of those UHE particles and assist reveal what causes them.
